Total Pageviews

Bebop Spoken There

John McLaughlin: '' A Love Supreme coincided with my search for meaning in life". (DownBeat, March 2025).

The Things They Say!

This is a good opportunity to say thanks to BSH for their support of the jazz scene in the North East (and beyond) - it's no exaggeration to say that if it wasn't for them many, many fine musicians, bands and projects across a huge cross section of jazz wouldn't be getting reviewed at all, because we're in the "desolate"(!) North. (M & SSBB on F/book 23/12/24)

Postage

17873 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 194 of them this year alone and, so far, 41 this month (March 14).

From This Moment On ...

MARCH 2025.

Wed 19: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 19: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 19: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 20: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, Holystone. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 20: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Nicknames.
Thu 20: Terri Green Experience @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £15.90.
Thu 20: King Bees @ The Cumberland Arms, Byker, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). Superb blues band.
Thu 20: Lindsay Hannon Trio @ The Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Hannon’s ‘Tom Waits for No Man’ set.
Thu 20: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ Mill Tavern, Hebburn. 8:30pm. Free.

Fri 21: Paul Skerritt @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 21: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 21: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 21: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 21: Giles Strong Quartet @ 1719, Hendon, Sunderland. 7:30pm. CANCELLED!
Fri 21: New Century Ragtime Orchestra @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Featuring special guest Martin Litton (piano).

Sat 22: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 12:30-2:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 22: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 3:30pm-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 22: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 22: Swamp Stomp String Band @ The White Room, Stanley. 7:45pm.
Sat 22: Rivkala @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Country blues guitar & vocals.

Sun 23: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 23: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: Mississippi MacDonald @ Georgian Theatre, Stockton. 3:00pm. Blues.
Sun 23: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick. 7:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: The Great Deceivers @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Tom Atkinson & co play King Crimson (1969-1974). Atkinson (guitar); Josh Bentham (alto sax); Stu Dawson (bass); Jeff Armstrong (drums).

Mon 24: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 24: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30pm. Free.

Tue 25: Fred Wesley & the New JB’s @ The Cluny. 7:30pm (doors). £27.50. POSTPONED! New date Wednesday 26 November.

Reviewers wanted

Whilst BSH attempts to cover as many gigs, festivals and albums as possible, to make the site even more comprehensive we need more 'boots on the ground' to cover the albums seeking review - a large percentage of which never get heard - report on gigs or just to air your views on anything jazz related. Interested? then please get in touch. Contact details are on the blog. Look forward to hearing from you. Lance

Wednesday, October 31, 2018

CD Review: Wolfgang Muthspiel – Where The River Goes

Wolfgang Muthspiel (guitar); Ambrose Akinmusire (trumpet); Brad Mehldau (piano); Larry Grenadier (double bass); Eric Harland (drums).
(Review by Hugh C).                                                         
Where The River Goes is a natural progression from Wolfgang Muthspiel’s Rising Grace recording of 2016 (reviewed on BSH), reuniting the Austrian guitarist with Brad Mehldau, Ambrose Akinmusire and Larry Grenadier, and bringing in Eric Harland on drums;  these musicians all heavy hitters in their own right.  The compositions, with two exceptions, are all by Muthspiel.
The title track, Where The River Goes opens with Muthspiel’s solo guitar.  Brad Meldhau picks up the fluvial theme then Larry Grenadier joins as the stream widens, finally Eric Harland and Ambrose Akinmusire complete the quintet on their journey downstream.  Atmospheric (almost flugel-like) trumpet from Akinmusire and intricate guitar work from Muthspiel are the highlights in this piece.  

For Django is a fitting tribute to the great man (no, not Mr Bates!).  Descendants is themed around a sequence of tumbling note series, initially played on trumpet and then taken up by piano and guitar in turn.  A steady tempo is maintained by the rhythm section.  Clearing (an improvised composition by all five musicians) evokes the feeling of an encircling forest from which percussive drumbeats and soulful calls emanate, suggesting the presence of a surrounding, hidden people.

Buenos Aires features Muthspiel’s solo guitar, but in an almost classical, Spanish, style.  One Day My Prince Was Gone (unsurprisingly) gives the distinct impression of being a reverse-engineered construction from a disassembled Morey and Churchill hit from the movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs – a sort of contrafact, perhaps?  Blueshead (a Brad Mehldau composition) sets off (and continues) at a brisk pace and incorporates a bass solo from Larry Grenadier.   Muthspiel and Mehldau also take solos.  The final track is Panorama, another Muthspiel composition.

Where The River Goes captures five top-flight musicians at their very best, but playing as an ensemble with its own distinct identity.  At just over 48 minutes, this relatively compact disc is also issued on vinyl.
Hugh C.
Catalogue: ECM  2610

Wolfgang Muthspiel plays music from Where The River Goes on tour this autumn with concerts at major venues in Germany, Belgium, Austria, Switzerland, Estonia and elsewhere. The tour commences in Tallin on 30 October 2018 and finishes on 12 January - before Brexit can affect travel to mainland Europe!
Full tour details here

No comments :

Blog Archive